Stanford launches special Physics course for underrepresented students

I apologize to some for linking to Reihbart, but here is also an article from the horse's mouth, not fake.

Making physics more inclusive | Stanford News

Physics faculty and students are working together to make their department a more inclusive community through clubs, courses and events.

news.stanford.edu

Stanford Launches Physics Course for 'Underrepresented' Minority Students

Stanford University announced in August that they will launch a physics course that is specifically designed for students from "underrepresented groups" who "don’t have the same level of preparation from high school as their majority peers."

www.breitbart.com

Spoiler: article

Stanford University announced in August that they will launch a physics course that is specifically designed for students from “underrepresented groups” who “don’t have the same level of preparation from high school as their majority peers.”

According to a university press release, Stanford will be offering a physics course for minority students. The course is designed to compensate for educational disadvantages that some students may have had prior to enrollment at Stanford.

The course, which is called “Physics 41E,” is identical to the Stanford Physics Department’s mechanics course. However, this version of the course will provide support for students who did not receive adequate preparation from their high school.

The same as Physics 41: Mechanics, which is a required course for physics majors, but with added support. Students from underrepresented groups often don’t have the same level of preparation from high school as their majority peers. The difference in preparation is large enough that it may lead students to drop out of the major but small enough that the kind of support offered by this course can be enough to keep them in.

Stanford Professor Risa Wechsler argues that members of minority groups often feel excluded in physics courses. “Many students from all backgrounds and identities come to Stanford excited about physics, and this interest does not strongly depend on race or gender. But we lose a larger number of Black, Latinx and Native students, as well as women of all races, in the first two years of undergraduate study,” Wechsler said. “A lot of that is due to the lack of community and overall climate. People from underrepresented groups often do not feel welcome in physics classes.”


Wechsler isn’t the only Stanford professor that wants to infuse science courses with identity politics. Professor Lauren Tompkins, who also teaches physics, said that the physics community has placed an increased emphasis on identity in recent years.


“In the last five to eight years, there’s been a growing awareness about the importance of identity within the physics community,” Tompkins said. “Your identity affects your experience as a physicist and even the physics that you do. If we can acknowledge and understand that, it makes us better physicists.”

the practice of admitting people into universities with preferences to minorities and women (especially engineering schools) has been going on since '90s (to my knowledge), but this represents the new level of tard.

Before, you had to take some required courses that weeded out a lot of major-wannabees, shit like advanced calculus and diffyqs among others, now there is a selection of courses to help you get those coveted degrees by sheer DNA luck. At least you could claim to have a degree from some prestigious school, never mind that it was in bullshit, now you can be feezeecis and sheeeit, dayum!

Funny part is male Azns are not on the list together with whites. Welcome to oppressed class comrades!

 

[saralovesjuicyfruit]

Why take it as oppression? It's an outright admission of general higher ability in this department among white and Asian dudes. The only groups this does a disservice to IMO are the "minorities" it targets. It will have the opposite of the intended effect and immediately cast a shadow of doubt over the achievements of the people in those groups. People will see the degree and where it came from and think,"Oh, so that's the only reason they were able to pass: wahmen and darkie special ed courses."

If I were openly assumed to be less capable and directed down a special educational path because I'm female, I'd be insulted, not grateful.

 

[Shaved Kiwis]

Something something Jewish physics...

Deutsche Physik - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Build your own joke kit

 

[Ягода]

Why take it as oppression? It's an outright admission of general higher ability in this department among white and Asian dudes. The only groups this does a disservice to IMO are the "minorities" it targets. It will have the opposite of the intended effect and immediately cast a shadow of doubt over the achievements of the people in those groups. People will see the degree and where it came from and think,"Oh, so that's the only reason they were able to pass: wahmen and darkie special ed courses."

If I were openly assumed to be less capable and directed down a special educational path because I'm female, I'd be insulted, not grateful.

yes, basically that's it. Russians call it "Bear's favor", instead of fighting racial bias and giving a leg up, they're firmly cementing racism and racial bias.

kind of like Welfare, instead of temporary helping out in time of need, it created a permanent underpriveleged gibbsme voting class that would rather be the same way ...

 

[Unog]

"Special"

We all know what that means guys, you're not being clever. Might as well call it a course for the exceptional.

 

[Red Hood]

Do physics work differently when you're a minority? Does gravity's pull differ when your a bigendered latinx otherkin?

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

I wish they'd just skip to the end goal and hand pocs a diploma without them even having to register for any classes. It'd be more honest.

 

[kcbbq]

Do physics work differently when you're a minority? Does gravity's pull differ when your a bigendered latinx otherkin?

No, it's just that studying in high school is "acting white", so you can't really expect minorities to have any basics down when somehow, despite not knowing any basic stuff, they get into Stanford.

 

[IN 041]

Misleading thread title, it's an optional program for over spring break.

 

[Far Queue]

Why take it as oppression? It's an outright admission of general higher ability in this department among white and Asian dudes. The only groups this does a disservice to IMO are the "minorities" it targets. It will have the opposite of the intended effect and immediately cast a shadow of doubt over the achievements of the people in those groups. People will see the degree and where it came from and think,"Oh, so that's the only reason they were able to pass: wahmen and darkie special ed courses."

If I were openly assumed to be less capable and directed down a special educational path because I'm female, I'd be insulted, not grateful.

The real problem is the kind of racial or sex-based quotas that those universities have. If they weren't trying to target having 30% of group X, they wouldn't have a drop standards. Suppose they do it based solely on ability. Maybe only 5% of group X manages to get in to the program. It doesn't matter because that 5% can hang with everyone else there even though they're members of different arbitrary categories. Group X could be left-handed students for all anyone cares.

But now you've got 30% of students belonging to group X, but still 5% who would have been there regardless. Any human being with a brain is going to stereotype people in group X, because that's just how our brains are built. Early humans that thought "well maybe this snake wants to be friends" fucked a lot less than the early humans that assumed it was harmful. So the stereotype becomes, "Group X stupid" not because being in group X makes you stupid, but because a large number of group X shouldn't be there and can't handle the normal material. Unfortunately that minority of group X who would still be there regardless gets lumped in with this lot as well.

Some would argue that the opportunity for group X makes it all worth it. But that's not the case. People who don't get in to Stanford still go to college somewhere else, that isn't quite as rigorous. In this case the majority of group X that can't succeed at Stanford because it's beyond their level goes to another school that better matches their ability. Now you no longer have a situation where anyone has a good reason to develop a stereotype about group X being stupid. Stanford students only see members of group X that can handle Stanford rigor. The other students in group X are at some other university where no one sees them as out of place.

Affirmative action policies are utterly horrible. The people who institute them only do so to appease their own desire to appear virtuous. The actual results of the policies tend to be the opposite of what was intended. Worse yet, suppose Stanford doesn't dumb down their course for the students that can't hope to succeed in the regular course. Those students would just fail out of Stanford. Worse yet, they could have gone to some other college that may not be as prestigious as Stanford, but one where they could have succeeded because some guilty liberal idiots weren't using them as a prop to feel morally righteous.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Stanford Professor Risa Wechsler argues that members of minority groups often feel excluded in physics courses.

In case you're wondering what kind of geinus comes up with this idea: this professor has donated at least $80 to Brianna Wu For Congress.

The prosecution rests.

 

[pwnest injun]

Funny part is male Azns are not on the list together with whites. Welcome to oppressed class comrades!

If whites and azns team up, they could really turn this world around like some sort of Axis power...

 

[Safir]

Misleading thread title, it's an optional program for over spring break.

How is it misleading? It's a course for people who are too dumb to be in Stanford in the first place provided they belong to a privileged group. It'd be one thing if they opened it to everyone, with an eye toward people who might have gotten in on an athletic scholarship or something.

As for wahmen specifically, there's no discrimination of them going on at the admissions and intro level anywhere in the first world or even Middle East slaveowning shitholes. Where it exists, it starts from choosing a graduate advisor at the earliest.

 

[Rancid Flid]

Do physics work differently when you're a minority? Does gravity's pull differ when your a bigendered latinx otherkin?

Niggers gonna study black holes & dark matter.

 

[Fatrick Hamlinson]

do not feel welcome in physics classes

It's amazing that someone in a field like physics could be so blatantly dishonest or stupid, but I suppose she's a product of affirmative action in colleges. Which is incredibly distressing.

The reason that so many potential physics students drop out in their first two years is because the skills and content knowledge needed for this field are astoundingly difficult. People "ooh" and "aah" over a physics degree because the subject is inherently confounding. STEM majors aren't for everyone, and that's a good thing. Selectivity in certain physics and engineering positions is desired, as lives could be lost due to someone not caring enough or knowing enough about their job.

There was a quantitative chemistry class that I took, and it was intended for second or third-year chemistry majors as well as those planning to become doctors, nurses, and lab technicians. It was the most difficult class I've ever taken. They required such precision in lab results that my sloppy lab methods couldn't hack it, and so I had to adapt and imitate what my lab professor was doing, and I managed to pass that class with a B due to my efforts in redoing labs. It would have been insane for me to complain about bigotry, and expect them to lower their standards; a class like that prepares you for careers in pharmacology and the like, where an error of precision can destroy lives.

What they're saying with this special class is that "minorities" are not as capable, and that fits with every social justice narrative I've ever heard. "You're powerless victims, and here's how we can help you if you give us money."

I'd like to say that the people who came up with this schlock couldn't sell parkas and heaters to the Terra Nova Expedition with such a weak ass idea, but I know full well that there are idiots willing to buy into this horseshit.

 

[NerdShamer]

It's not the school's fault that so-and-so can't get into college, it's the kids' for not committing themselves for it. Plus, diversity quotas makes it more difficult to get shit done in the long run.

 

[Kosher Dill]

For the record, here's the actual course description:

Stanford University Explore Courses

explorecourses.stanford.edu

PHYSICS 41E: Mechanics, Concepts, Calculations, and Context
Physics 41E ( Physics 41 Extended) is an 5-unit version of Physics 41 (4 units) for students with little or no high school physics or calculus. Course topics and mathematical complexity are identical to Physics 41, but the extra classroom time allows students to engage with concepts, develop problem solving skills, and become fluent in mathematical tools that include vector representations and operations, and calculus. The course will use problems drawn from everyday life to explore important physical principles in mechanics, such as Newton's Laws of motion, equations of kinematics, and conservation of energy and momentum. Prerequisite: Math 19 or equivalent; Co-requisite: Math 20 or equivalent. In order to register for this class students must EITHER have already taken an introductory Physics class (20, 40, or 60 sequence) or have taken the Physics Placement Diagnostic at https://physics.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate-students/placement-diagnostic. Enrollment is via permission number which can be obtained by filling in the application at https://stanforduniversity.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6gpr3SkM76WNDVP.

I really wish the application form was still available, because I'm sure that would be eye-opening.
Notice the remarkable statement that this is "for students with little or no high school physics or calculus" - and yet these students are somehow attending Stanford.

 

[NerdShamer]

For the record, here's the actual course description:

Stanford University Explore Courses

explorecourses.stanford.edu

I really wish the application form was still available, because I'm sure that would be eye-opening.
Notice the remarkable statement that this is "for students with little or no high school physics or calculus" - and yet these students are somehow attending Stanford.

That because it says that you need to take certain math classes beforehand or pass an evaluation interview.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

Do physics work differently when you're a minority? Does gravity's pull differ when your a bigendered latinx otherkin?

Yes, apparently, black people can't tell time because time was made up by whites as blacks don't have abstract thoughts.

Now, the question for you is, who said that?

1. SJW
2. Stormfront
3. Both

 

[Ma Wang]

Do physics work differently when you're a minority?

Sho'nuff